A Little While Longer
by Happytohelp
Summary: She needs him to stay. Can he? One-shot.


_I don't own Avatar. If I did I wouldn't know what to do with it. _

_Another one-shot. I need to be more committed. Maybe I'll write a multi-part story, but I lack confidence. __That's what these notes are for, right, therapy?_

_Oh, and thanks for any and all reads, favs and reviews, I appreciate it. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside._

* * *

It was a big battle. One of the biggest. Perhaps the largest organised group of rebels they had yet faced. Luckily, the majority of the group were uninjured. Sokka had twisted an ankle, Suki had been shot in the leg, and Zuko had sustained a few burns, but considering the intensity of the fighting, the number of casualties was surprisingly low. Katara had been able to heal all of her friends to a suitable degree, and they would all make speedy recoveries. Katara wiped the sweat from her forehead as she finished healing another patient, but suddenly she was consumed with worry. She gathered her friends together and did a head count.

"Where's Aang?" she asked.

Suddenly her friends faces all turned pale as they traded uneasy stares. They hadn't seen him either.

"I… I haven't…" began Sokka, but he didn't need to finish. He saw his sister's eyes widen, until it seemed as though they might take up her whole head. The others noticed it too.

"Katara, I'm sure he just…"

"No," Katara whispered dangerously, as if _daring_ Sokka to try and reassure her. Daring him to tell her everything was fine.

"Aang!" She turned on her heel and ran back in the direction of the battlefield.

"Katara, come back!" her friends called, but their attempts were fruitless.

"Zuko, go after her!" Sokka instructed. Zuko nodded tersely, and set off after the waterbender.

"Toph, help me walk!" was his next order. She did so, and Mai and Suki exchanged glances, as Mai wordlessly shouldered the Kyoshi warrior.

Katara arrived at the devastated battlefield. The injured and the deceased were strewn around, as lines of medics worked tirelessly to march the bodies back to camp. But Katara didn't care about that. She couldn't. She was looking for one person, and one person only.

Zuko caught up with her to find her frantically calling Aang's name. He tried in vain to get her attention, and instead found himself jogging around after her, as she checked every nook and corner for the airbender. When he finally got close enough to talk to her, he stretched out his hand and placed it gently on her shoulder. She spun around, startling him, with a few tears rolling down her face.

"Where could he be?" she choked out. Her face contorted as though she was screaming, but little sound found its way out.

Before Zuko could formulate and answer, though, Katara was off again. She had evidently spotted an area she had not yet checked, and wasted no time in reaching it. Zuko sighed, and turned back to see if the rest of the group had made their way to him yet. He felt relief wash over him when he saw they were, in fact, closer to where Katara was running than he was. He made a beeline to their side.

"Any sign of Aang yet?" Toph asked, as she handed Sokka to Zuko.

"Not yet," he told her. The words sounded awful in his ears.

The friends watched Katara run up a large hill, which had piles of injured rebels at the base, but their breaths caught in their throats when they saw Katara stood, frozen, at the top. For one sickening moment, everything was still, everything was silent, or at least it felt that way. They daren't speak, lest their deepest fears be confirmed. It was a profound moment.

Then they saw Katara slump down to her knees, and every single one of the friends took off in a run to join her. Even Sokka and Suki were moving as fast as they might while healthy, and such was the worry of the friends that not even Sokka complained of the tearing pain in his ankle.

As they reached the crest of the hill, they once again felt their breath leave them. Sat in a small, singed crater was Katara, on her knees, sobbing and cradling Aang's head in her arms. He was far too still, far too quiet. They might have yelled, screamed, cried, _anything_, but they couldn't. They were totally and completely terrified, and their emotions just couldn't work their way out.

After several dark, painful seconds of fear, Sokka took a step towards Aang.

"Katara…" he whispered. It was all he could think to say.

"Keep away from him!" she cried. Her voice broke the hearts of the five friends, but Sokka kept on his determined, limping trek towards her.

"_Keep_ _away!_" Katara turned her body around the boy, protecting Aang from anything and everything. She bent the water from her pouch and placed her hands on his chest. She had no idea where he was injured, so she had no choice but to heal all of him. She would sit there forever. Until he woke up, or she fell asleep.

She ran her healing hands up and down his body, filling his wounds, cleaning him, fixing him. Her tears replenished her water supply, and the rest of the group watched on wordlessly, hoping, _praying_ that it would be enough. When in reality it was only minutes, to the group of friends it felt like hours. Their faces were blank, as they watched their friend teetering dangerously between life and death.

Then, a cough. A splutter, and a breath. They all released a collective sigh of relief, but when Katara continued to sob, and heal him, it was clear that not all was well.

"Ugh…" came the almost silent grunt from the Avatar.

"Aang!" Katara cried in disbelief, "Aang, are you alright? Are you in pain? Talk to me, Aang, please, talk to me."

"No… and yes," came the reply. The words were barely audible, but there was the tiniest of grins on Aang's face.

"You're not going to die are you?" Katara sobbed, heartbroken. The damage was far worse than she had feared, and even through her grief, she could tell his chances were slim.

"Ugh… pass," he chuckled between laboured breaths, but Katara wasn't in the mood for chuckling. She wasn't in the mood for _anything_.

With an almost herculean effort, Aang lifted his head to look at the group of friends now surrounding him.

"Hey, everyone's here…" he whispered, before he was gripped by a fit of painful coughing. Tears formed in his eyes, as Katara clung to him, horrified by the sight of his pain. She would have done anything to take it from him. She would have gladly taken his place. _He's done so much good_, she thought, _he doesn't deserve this._

"Please don't die…"

It seemed like such a simple request, something so easy to do. With another heroic feat of strength, he lifted his hand to Katara face.

"Hey," he whispered, as reassuringly as a dying man could, "hey, it'll be okay. I promise."

"I don't want you to promise me that, Aang," she whimpered, "I need you to promise me you won't die. Please, just promise me that!" she was exhausted, defeated.

"I can't make you a promise I might not be able to keep, Katara," he told her sorrowfully, "but I _can_ promise that _you'll_ be okay."

"No, Aang, stop," she sobbed brokenly, "I don't want to hear that. I don't want to be okay. I want _you_ to be okay. I _need _you to be okay. I want to hear that you'll be okay. Tell me, Aang. Please tell me you'll be okay," it was more of a desperate plea than an order.

"Please don't leave me here…"

His heart broke at the look on her face, the fear in her voice, the tears in her eyes. He _wanted_ to stay. He wanted it more than anything in the world. He would have sacrificed anything for just another precious moment with her.

"I love you, Katara…" he mumbled through the pain, "I love you so much. Never forget…"

When his eyes fluttered shut, there was another sickening silence. It was as though time had stood still. No one wanted to even consider what they knew to be true.

"No, Aang," Katara cried, "you can't do this. You can't just leave me here. You wouldn't…" she trailed off as her throat seemed to close from grief. She sat sobbing, her mouth half open, and her eyes tight shut. No one dared approach her.

Aang's tattoos began to glow, signifying the evacuation of the Avatar spirit from his body. Katara's eyes shot open, and widened with fear once again.

"No," she whispered again, "oh, no, please…"

It was now or never. She kissed him. A fearful, last ditch kiss. A kiss built on such raw fear and sadness that she shook throughout. She kissed him to hold him there. Her kiss was to be his anchor. She kissed him as if to say "you're not going anywhere". She needed to save him. She needed the kiss to save him, she _needed_ it to be enough.

The kiss stopped and the glow stopped. Her low, slow wail was enough to bring tears to the eyes of all within earshot. It was the cry of a broken woman. The cry of the beaten. A call for help, and a cry of defeat. She crushed her face into his chest. She wouldn't let go for anything.

But then, a thud. The dullest, quietest sound, but she heard. She pulled Aang out to arm's length, to find him gazing and beaming at her. Delirious from pain, exhaustion and his near death, he laughed.

"I guess I can stay a little while longer."

* * *

_I just _love_ killing Aang, don't I? Ah well, I'll probably only do it, like, twice more before getting a new idea. It's probably 'cause I really love the idea of Katara needing him. Remember those psychological inferences I hinted at? Who am I kidding?_


End file.
